Collide
by X23 Maximoff
Summary: Before Callaghan tried to destroy Krei, before BayMax was invented, before his brother had even graduated high school, Tadashi knew a girl. She did not fill many chapters of his book, but those chapters were some of his favorites. Tadashi/OC, set before the movie. Rating to increase in later chapters.
1. Chapter 1

Hey guys! So this is my first time writing for Big Hero 6, but I absolutely loved the film (as many of you probably did as well), and just wanted to write a little something for it. This is probably going to be only 4 or 5 chapters, but since I love Tadashi so much, I just had to give him a little bit of love! Hope you guys like it!

**Chapter 1: The Opening Scene**

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><p>The first time he met her was at the cafe.<p>

It was a Saturday, early in his semester. He had just began Callaghan's program, and had been hitting the books hard trying to come up with the idea for his robotics project. Today, though, he was helping Aunt Cas at the cafe, because her normal weekend girl was sick and the back up was out of town. So Tadashi donned his apron and set up behind the counter, taking money and handing out baked goods and coffee. She had been one of the first customers of the day, ordering an eclair and a cup of black coffee before posting up at the table in the corner. Her red hair was tucked into a thick braid going down her back, green eyes flying over a computer screen and a notebook. Headphones were in her ears, one booted foot tapping along to the beat. He tried very hard not to stare, but that was difficult with the low amount of early morning customers and the fact that Tadashi found her undeniably beautiful.

Once it got closer to the brunch hour, it was easier to distract himself. More patrons began coming in, and soon Tadashi was trading off cashier duties with waiter duties while Aunt Cas tried to cook and help out front. He stopped by Pretty Girl's table a time or two, making sure to top off her coffee. Each time she looked up, smiled, and thanked him in a soft voice, seemingly overcompensating for the music in her ears.

Brunch time came, brunch time went. Lunch time came, lunch time went. And still the red headed girl toiled on with her laptop and her notebook. Somewhere past two, Aunt Cas made a towering turkey sandwich and took it to her table. Tadashi saw the girl panic for a moment, thanking Aunt Cas and pulling out her wallet. Aunt Cas pushed the girl's wallet away, and Tadashi could hear her say it was on the house. The girl looked incredibly grateful - he had the feeling she had forgotten it was lunch time.

"Aunt Cas, who is that?" Tadashi asked quietly when she returned to the register.

"Her? I don't know her name. She told it to me once, but you know how I am with names." Aunt Cas laughed. "She comes in every Saturday, gets breakfast, forgets lunch while she works, and then orders a nice dinner."

"Every Saturday?" he questioned.

"Yep. Can you believe it? My cafe is part of someone's routine!" she squealed, waving her hands excitedly.

"Aunt Cas I see a lot of the same people stop by for your coffee and sweets, I think you're part of a lot of people's routines." Tadashi pointed out.

"Well when you get to my age, it's the little things that count." she said, patting his shoulder and heading back to the kitchen. He looked to the girl again. Her eyebrows were furrowed at the computer and she was chewing very slowly, as if she might forget any moment that she was actually eating. A couple hours later, she sighed and pulled out her headphones, putting the turkey sandwich down. She leaned back in her chair, covering her face with her hands and let out another breath. Tadashi was impressed - he prided himself on his focus, but he didn't think he had the concentration that this girl did. He thought for a moment before grabbing a cookie out of the case, microwaving it for a few seconds before tossing it on a plate and grabbing the pot of coffee.

"Looks like you need something with a little bit higher glycemic index." he said to her, sliding the cookie onto the table. She pulled her hands away from her face, giving him a grin.

"Studying nutrition?" she asked, giving him a thankful look and taking a sip of the coffee.

"Robotics, actually." he replied. "Just got one of those crazy memories."

"Ah, one of the lucky ones." she said, pulling off a chunk of cookie and eating it. "Are you studying at the University?"

"Yep, in the Callaghan program." he said, a little bit of pride showing through.

"Oh, impressive." she said, raising her eyebrows. "You guys actually built a lot of our lab equipment."

"Oh, no way?" he asked. "Are you studying there too?"

"Mhmm." she hummed with a nod. "Immunology and infectious disease."

"Whoa, that's crazy." he said, genuinely impressed. She gave him a smile. "So are you looking for cures to the common cold?"

"Ha, I wish." she said with a laugh. "My research has to do with picking up specific antibodies detectable by whole body scanners to discover certain infections in a more timely manner than by blood culture." she explained, with a glow in her eye and excited hand movements. He could tell she was very excited about her research, and it was adorable. She noticed his grin, and simmered down. "Sorry, I get a little excited about these things."

"Hey, no judgement here." he said with a shrug. "The first time I got a robot to work, I woke my aunt and brother up at 3 in the morning to come watch it. They were less than impressed, I'll say."

"I would be impressed." she said matter-of-factly. "I can work tech just well enough to function in the lab. Building a robot is way outside of my repertoire."

"Some people build robots, some find specific antibodies detectable by whole body scanners to prevent infections." he said, quirking one side of his mouth up in a grin. She smiled back, her green eyes sparkling.

"I suppose so." she said. She held out her hand. "Bailey Dwyer."

"Tadashi Hamada." he replied, taking her hand in his.

"Do you work here now?" she asked, taking another bite of cookie.

"Not really. My aunt owns it, and her normal workers couldn't make it in today." he explained, gesturing to Aunt Cas in the kitchen.

"Oh, cool!" she said. "Your aunt's place is honestly my favorite place to come to when I need to get things done. Her coffee is divine."

"I will be sure to let her know that." Tadashi said.

"Please do. She has saved my sanity on more than one occasion." Bailey continued, finishing off the cookie. She checked her watch. "Well, Tadashi Hamada, thank you for the cookie and the conversation. Unfortunately I must return to crunching my numbers."

"Hey, no problem." he said, holding his hands up. He took the plate from her, filling up her coffee cup one last time. "Let me know if you need anything."

"Thanks." she said, giving him a grin. He smiled in return, heading back to the cash register.

He didn't get to talk to Bailey the rest of the day. Once the supper rush came in, he was a slave to getting orders and taking them out. Aunt Cas was running around, massive piles of plates stacked on her arm as she tried to get everyone their food quickly. It was Aunt Cas who took the girl's supper order and brought it out to her while Tadashi was taking care of other customers. He was hoping she would stay through the busy hour so he could talk to her again, but about halfway through he looked up to see her table empty. His heart dropped a little bit at the missed opportunity, but he kept his head up. It wasn't until they had a moment to breathe that his spirits lifted.

"Oh, by the way," Aunt Cas said, fluttering behind the cash register to him. "I believe this was left for you." she handed him a receipt. Tadashi looked at it - the person had tipped very well, but the signature was illegible.

"Uh, thanks, Aunt Cas, but I thought we were just splitting the tips tonight?" he asked. Aunt Cas rolled her eyes.

"No, knucklehead." she said, snatching the receipt out of his hand and flipping it over. On the back, in much more legible writing, was written:

_Bailey Dwyer_

_417.555.2155_

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><p>Cheesy? Yes. But hey, I like cheesy things. I know it's super short, but this isn't really meant to be super long - just something fun and cute that I want to do!<p>

Please please please leave a review and let me know what you think!

-XM


	2. Chapter 2

Hey guys! Sorry it took me a while to update - I know I told a couple people that I was planning to update again last week! However, I had a specialization exam, and then had to pack up everything I owned and move 5 hours away so that kind of killed my weekend plans. Here's the next vignette for you though! Hope you enjoy!

**Chapter 2: The First Act**

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><p>The first time he ever called her number, he was a little nervous.<p>

Scratch that, he was borderline terrified. Tadashi wanted to believe he was a cool guy, one who wasn't phased by anything. He wanted to think that he could take on the world without a second thought. In reality, he was pacing his room with Bailey's number dialed, the screen requesting him to press "call". His heart was beating faster than usual, and his palms may or may not have been a little moist. He was just giving himself a pep talk, focusing on the task at hand, when the door slammed open.

"Holy mother of God!" Tadashi yelled as Hiro bounced in, backpack on his shoulders.

"Sorry, Tadashi, did I scare you?" Hiro asked, laughter in his voice.

"Just startled me is all." Tadashi replied, ruffling his younger brother's hair. Hiro smacked his hand away, going to his computer.

"Losing your edge there." Hiro retorted with a grin, signing in.

"Whatever." Tadashi said, waving him off.

"What were you doing anyway?" Hiro questioned, eyes on the screen.

"Just about to call some friends to hang out tonight." Tadashi tried to say as nonchalantly as possible.

"Then why do you look like a nervous wreck?" Hiro astutely continued, though his eyes were still on the computer screen.

"What? I do not look like a nervous wreck." Tadashi said defensively.

"Whatever." Hiro replied, drawing the word out. He pushed away from the desk and headed back to the door. "I'm gonna get some food from downstairs. You want anything?"

"Nah, I'm good." he replied, watching as Hiro headed out of the door. Without thinking too much about it, he pressed the "call" button on his phone, almost forgetting to hold it to his ear once it started ringing.

"Hello?" a feminine voice answered.

"Hi, um, may I please speak with Bailey?" he asked, suddenly remembering _phone etiquette _and _manners_.

"…This is she?" Bailey said, a little suspicious.

"Hey Bailey, this is Tadashi Hamada…from the cafe?" he said. Was it a question? He wasn't sure.

"Oh hey Tadashi!" she said, cheerful. "Are you aware you speak on the phone like an eighty year old?"

"Well, I guess kids these days aren't aware of good manners." he answered, grinning.

"Yea. Do you yell at the youths to get off your lawn too?" she questioned him.

"Of course. Almost on a daily basis. And don't even get me started on how my knees ache when it rains." he continued, giving exaggerated hand gestures even though she couldn't see him.

"Man, what a rough life you've led." she said somberly.

"For sure." he said. There was a slight pause, which Tadashi filled before it could get too awkward. "So some friends of mine and I are heading out to Joysticks, that video game-slash-arcade-slash-bar down on Main Street tonight. Wanted to see if you were interested in joining?"

"Depends, is that going to keep you out past your bedtime?" she asked slyly.

"Most definitely. But I can live life on the edge just this once." he replied.

"Well then that sounds like a good time to me." she said. He was glad she couldn't see his gestures this time, cause he had pumped his fist in triumph. He gave her the time they were meeting before they exchanged goodbyes. He then made his way downstairs to the kitchen, where Aunt Cass and Hiro were making supper.

"You're looking chipper." Aunt Cass remarked, flipping a pancake.

"How can I not be chipper when we're having breakfast for dinner?" Tadashi replied smoothly, sitting down at the kitchen table.

"He's hiding something." Hiro said, looking at him out of the corner of his eye. Aunt Cass gasped.

"Maybe it's a girl!" she said in a conspiratory whisper.

"Gross!" Hiro said, making an exaggerated face. "Tadashi would never be with a girl!"

"Hey, and why not?" Tadashi asked indignantly.

"Because you're not cool, going to your nerd school and all." Hiro perked his eyebrows.

"And what about the girls at the nerd school?" he pointed out.

"Eh, you're probably not even cool enough for them." he answered.

"Hiro, be nice to your brother!" Aunt Cass scolded, placing a fluffy pancake on a pile.

"It's cool Aunt Cass. He's young and knows not the ways of this world." Tadashi said, laying his head back in his hands.

"Cause you're so old and wise." Aunt Cass said sarcastically, bringing the food to the table.

"I can't help it." he said with a shrug, immediately serving himself some food. The three ate with relatively calm chit-chat, asking about Hiro's day at school and Tadashi's day at the university. After supper, he helped clean the dishes before heading upstairs, hopping into the shower. Once he deemed himself clean, he got back out and dressed in his signature cardigan and tshirt.

"Where are you going?" Hiro asked from his bed where he was reading a book on magnetism.

"Out with some friends." Tadashi replied, slipping his wallet into his back pocket.

"_Girl_ friends?" Hiro sang.

"Yes. And some guy friends." Tadashi answered with a shocked look on his face.

"Disgusting." Hiro said, shaking his head. Tadashi laughed.

"See you later, little bro." he said.

"Make good choices." Hiro replied, his nose back in his book.

Once at the bar, it wasn't hard to find his friends. Honey Lemon stood above most of the crowd, her height accentuated by both her high heels and the high bun situated on her head. Wasabi and GoGo were nearby, battling at an old fighting game.

"I'm going to crush you!" GoGo cried, frantically smashing the buttons.

"Why do you have to be so aggressive?!" Wasabi whined, trying to keep up.

"I see things are going about as planned." Tadashi said, coming up to Honey Lemon.

"Yea, they lasted a whole five minutes before this whole thing started." she answered, sipping on a happy pink drink.

"Tadashiiiiii!" Fred yelled, sauntering up to him. "What took you so long, man? I thought you'd gotten kidnapped or something!"

"Nah, just got caught up having dinner with my aunt and brother." Tadashi responded, giving Fred the high five he was asking for.

"Aw! When do we get to meet Hiro? He sounds absolutely precious." Honey Lemon gushed, taking another sip of his drink.

"One of these days I'll get him to come around. He's kinda doing his own thing." Tadashi shrugged.

"Have you convinced him to apply yet?" GoGo asked, still kicking Wasabi's butt at the game.

"Not yet, but I will. One day he'll see it as more than a nerd school." Tadashi answered her.

"I've always found it funny that your brother is a thirteen year old high school senior, but _we're_ the nerds." Honey Lemon said thoughtfully.

"Yea, good luck figuring that one." he said, rolling his eyes. "Anyways, I'm gonna go get a drink. Anyone want anything?" A chorus of "no"'s answered him, so he turned and made his way to the bar.

It wasn't super packed that night, but it was certainly busy. Busy enough that it took a couple of minutes for Tadashi to capture the bartender's attention, and busy enough that his focus was elsewhere when a body slipped in next to him.

"Come here often?" a voice came, a sheet of red hair settling across the bar. To his credit, Tadashi did not jump, though his heart did leap into his throat for a second.

"Only every other night." Tadashi responded. He made a quick sweep with his hand, pulling Bailey's hair over her shoulder before it got stuck to the nasty bar top.

"Ah, a party animal. I knew it." she said, running a hand through her hair.

"What'll it be, folks?" the bartender asked, finally making his way over.

"I'll have a rum and coke, and…" he looked to Bailey expectantly, handing the guy his card to open a tab. She gave him a sly look.

"A mojito for me, please." she said. The barkeep nodded, going to mix their drinks. "Thanks."

"Not a problem. I invited you out to a night with strangers, the least I could do is buy you a drink." he explained.

"It is an unconventional first time to hang out." she nodded.

"I figured it would be more…casual." Tadashi said, accepting the drinks as they arrived and handing Bailey hers.

"Cheers to casual, then." she said, holding up her drink. Tadashi grinned, tapping his glass against hers.

"Cheers." he repeated, taking a swig while she took a sip from her straw. He nodded his head toward the group. "Come on, I'll introduce you to everyone."

Tadashi had to admit, he thought Bailey was cute. Very cute. And seeing her interact with his lab friends was oddly enjoyable. Not to mention she was also very good at some old school racing games, which was always a plus. Long story short, he was glad that he had invited her out with them that night. Tadashi wasn't always one to make moves like this - he would talk to a girl during class, yes, or if he saw her around campus. He had even dated a couple girls for short whiles between high school and university. But this seemed different. Never had a girl left her number for him, and never would he had thought that he would call it. But with Bailey, it seemed…different. Easy. A lot of girls were either aggressively trying to date you, or aggressively trying to not date you, and that always threw Tadashi off. But Bailey didn't seem to care. She seemed genuinely happy just to hang out. Which of course meant Tadashi felt more and more comfortable flirting with her as the night went on.

"Come on, now. Do you have to beat me so bad?" he asked as he lost to her in another racing game.

"You have to be letting me win. I'm good at this game, but not that good." she said, giving him a light shove.

"I wish! Trust me, if I was letting you win I'd at least make it a little bit of a closer race." he said.

"Most men wouldn't admit that." she pointed out.

"Yea, well, most men probably don't lose that bad." he replied, giving her a pointed look. She gave a laugh, green eyes sparkling. They came upon a large dance game, where the player had to step on the right buttons at the right time during a song to get points.

"Okay, this one." he said, dragging her up to it. "This is the one I can beat you at. I'm a champion at this game."

"I believe you." Bailey laughed, stopping at the outer railing of it. "I'll watch you play it, this one isn't really for me."

"Oh come on, that's no fun." he said, giving her a pout. She smirked, narrowing her eyes.

"Tadashi Hamada, these boots were made for a lot of things, but _Dance Battle 4_ is not one of them." she replied, gesturing to her black knee-high riding boots.

"They may have _Dance Battle 3_ somewhere else." he said cheekily. She stuck her tongue out at him.

"Hey, you were the one who said you were a champion at this game. I'm giving you the opportunity to dazzle me, unbridled by competition." she said pointedly, holding her arms out.

"I will take that challenge." he said, pointing a finger gun at her and shooting it before turning to the machine, picking one of the harder songs. He had great memories of this game, memories of sitting in arcades for hours with Hiro, keeping him busy while Aunt Cass ran errands.

Bailey had to admit that Tadashi had some moves. It was really quite impressive - she had seen people play this game before, but they were not as good as him. His motor coordination was impeccable, and she cheered whenever the song ended and the machine alerted his score was the new highest one.

"I'll admit, that was very well done." she said after he had stepped off the machine.

"I told you, I'm a champion at this game." he said, holding out his hands in a "what-can-I-say" gesture.

"I should have believed you, I'm sorry." she said, holding her hands up in surrender.

"Apology accepted." Tadashi said, his nose up in the air. Bailey took a glance at her watch.

"Actually, I think I need to be heading home. Gotta be at the lab early in the morning before class." she said sheepishly.

"I see. My _Dance Battle_ skills have proven that I'm uncool. Great." he said, feigning hurt.

"Not at all, if anything they make you even cooler." she said, putting her hand on his shoulder.

"Excellent. My plan is going accordingly then." he said, giving what he hoped was a funny looking evil grin. "Are you okay to drive?"

"Yea, I just had that one drink a couple hours ago. I'm good." she replied, waving him off.

"Okay, I'll walk you to your car then." he said, offering her his elbow. She slipped her arm in, linking them together. He walked her out of the bar, down the street where she directed him to her silver car.

"Thanks for inviting me out tonight. It was really fun, and your friends are super cool." she said, pulling her keys out of her purse.

"Hey, no problem. I'm glad you had a good time." Tadashi replied. He hesitated a moment. "We should hang out again sometime soon." he said, going out on a limb.

"Absolutely." she said with a smile. "Text me sometime."

"Will do." he answered, watching as she got into her car and drove off.

He knew it wouldn't have been appropriate to kiss her, but he still wouldn't have minded it.

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><p>There you go! Hope you guys liked it! Feel free to leave a review and let me know what you think!<p>

Shoutout to **TenebrisSagittarius**, **shadowshunter12**, and **Guest** for reviewing! Thank you all, it really means a lot to me!


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